Welcome to the Saturday Roundup, a (bi)weekly roundup of all the
important news going on in the gaming world.
If you’re sick of gaming websites' content turning more and more casual, or trying to pass off a single sentence and a link to a cool picture they saw on deviant art as ‘news,’ you've come to the right place. I aim to consolidate and summarize only the stuff
that’s most important to gaming enthusiasts. It’s a mix of hard news,
interesting features, and other titbits that I feel like you guys would enjoy. Let’s
see what’s been going on this week:
- Blizzard promised that content patches for Mists of Pandaria would be released more frequently in order to
address complaints that Cataclysm had
very large 'lulls' in between major content, and it seems set to deliver with
patch 5.1 to be deployed on public test realms very soon. Patch 5.1 promises to put the 'war' back into Warcraft, with new daily quest
hubs centered around the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance over
Pandaria.
- First person stealth action adventure game Dishonored shipped this week, and has
been generally well received by notable video game critics. Not sure what platform to buy it on? Check out
this PC/console comparison video
- Long in-development sequel to popular
half-life mod Natural Selection finally
has a release date! Natural Selection 2 will launch on the 31st of October. Releasing exactly one decade after it's predecessor, Natural Selection 2 blends elements of both FPS and RTS. Check out
my beta impressions of Natural Selection
2 here.
- LAN party favorite 'The Ship' is getting a sequel. Developers Blazing Griffin have announced a series of events leading up to the
release of the game, including a 75% off sale of the original The Ship.
- Borderlands
fans were treated to a nice surprise this week when
the first piece of Borderlands 2 DLC
released a week early! Gaige, the Mechromancer is an all-new playable class for the first person shooter, free to all players
who pre-purchased the game, and costing $9.99 for all those who didn't.
- If that's not enough Borderlands news for you, hows this? Gearbox today announced the Captain Scarlet DLC pack, to release on October 16th. Captain Scarlett will introduce new enemies, new weapons, a new vehicle called the sand skiff, and seraph crystals – a new form of currency. Please note that Captain Scarlet and the Mechromancer pack are NOT included in the Borderlands 2 season pass. Check out my Borderlands 2 review
here.
- Microsoft Points have been the bane of many
gamers, spanning both Microsoft's Xbox and Windows gaming platforms, and
forcing gamers to purchase arbitrary 'points' before exchanging them for DLC,
digital downloads, and other services. Fret no more, for Microsoft plans to
follow the example set by other digital stores such as Steam and Nintendo's 3DS
online store and do away with Microsoft Points for Windows 8. However, this happy news was countered by the rather unpleasant revelation that Windows 8 would not carry games rated above PEGI 16+. I guess we're going to stick to Windows 7 quite a while.
- Disappointed that giant mech robots will never be a reality? Pirahna Games can give you the next best thing: they are making a MechWarrior MMO and they want you to test it!
“Make a MECH-sized marking in your calendars for Tuesday, October 16th. In just one week, we will be opening up the InnerSphere to all MechWarriors and their friends.”
- Resident Evil 6 is already not getting much praise from fans and critics, and the latest revelation that it
has on-disc DLC despite Capcom's claims that it wouldn't pull this kind of shit any more is
definitely not helping. An extra
difficulty mode, as well as unlockable costumes, melee attacks and taunts have
been found hidden on the disk by modders.
- ZombiU is shaping up to be one of the 'killer apps' of the WiiU's launch lineup. It's unique use of the WiiU's gamepad controler can hopefully put a new spin on the tired-and-true zombie survival formula, as Gamespot takes us for an exclusive walkthrough of one of the game's levels.
So that’s the news for this week. Be sure to subscribe to
my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, and check back here every Wednesday and Saturday for more content!
